Warriors And Prodigies
by Pallanza
Summary: It's funny how people can change over a seemingly short period. A Ross x Lute fic. If you don't like the pairing, then don't read it. Romance, ActionAdventure, and Humor.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I love reading fan fiction, and I love Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones. So I was pleased to discover that there are Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones reveling on I also happen to think that Ross is one of the greatest characters in the game, if you raise him right, so to my surprise and horror, I discovered that there are only four fanfics in the Fire Emblem category that have Ross as a main character (and two of them are oneshots). So, I dedicate my first-ever fic to the "Son-of-warrior-Garcia-Ross"!

Disclaimer: I don't own the plot Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones, or any of the characters featured in the game. If I did, I would create an ending for the Ross x Lute support conversations. Stupid game programmers, forgetting something like that….prepares to be stoned for the "Stupid" comment

**Warriors And Prodigies**

"Wow….so this is the capital of Renais!" Ross exclaimed as he stood in front of the entrance gates, taking in the sights and sounds of the bustling city, its brick streets filled with pedestrians and vendors advertising their goods, and the marble buildings lining the roads, stretching towards the sky. It had been a year and a half since the defeat of the Demon King, and after four months spent rebuilding his home village of Ide, Ross had left his hometown to embark upon a journey, "To, you know, increase my skills", he told his dad. His father, "The Great Garcia", as he was known among the Renais soldiers back when he was a troop commander, agreed to the idea, albeit with reluctance over the fact that he wouldn't see his son for some time. Ross smiled as he thought back to their parting, his dad gruffly clasping his shoulders and telling him that he would always have a home to return to in Ide, tears forming at the corner of his eyes. Of course, as soon as Ross asked if he was crying, Garcia slapped him on the back of the head and told him to hurry up and leave, since there was no sense in dawdling.

The berserker had spent the next 14 months roaming the countryside, traveling from village to village, and helping out with whatever tasks the residents needed help with, be it helping with the construction of a new barn, or fighting off bandits, remnants of the once rampant bands of rogues and murderers that ruled over the mountainous areas during the chaos of Grado's invasion of Renais. Ross soon discovered that wandering around was more lonely then he thought it would be, seeing as how the villages were separated by long stretches of forests, or rugged mountain paths. He did run into Artur three months ago, who was also traveling from village to village, helping the peasantry with their illnesses and tasks. They had happily wandered around as a duo for two months, until Artur decided to travel south-west to visit his own village and check on how it was doing. Ross had bade him goodbye, and went back to traveling on his own, until a week ago, when a Renais courtier had arrived at the inn he was staying at and gave him a letter from his dad. In it, Garcia explained that he had finished rebuilding Ide and had rejoined the Renais military as a troop leader. He also invited Ross to come down to the capital to visit him and several of his friends from the War of the Stones that had also joined up with the Renais forces. Ross, tired of his lonely drifting, quickly wrote a letter to his dad, explaining that he would immediately drop by for a visit.

The guards looked at this young man strangely, who had been standing still in front of the gates for over a minute, smiling and gazing off into the distance. The guard on Ross's left coughed awkwardly, shaking Ross out of his reverie. "Uh….I'm going to go in now.", he told the guards, who nodded, and walked through the gates into the capital, looking forward to meeting all his friends and learning about their own experiences after the war.

Several hours later, Ross was slightly frustrated. No, frustrated wasn't a strong enough word. Ross was PISSED. He had been wandering through the streets of the city for some time now, trying to find his way to the castle. He had tried several times to ask directions from other pedestrians, but they mostly ignored him and shoved past him, intent on their destinations. The last guy Ross asked told him to "Go past the plaza with the statue of the horse, or was it the dog, and then to go left until you reach a crossway, and then head left, but, maybe that part of the city's been changed…." Needless to say, Ross didn't trust his directions very much.

"Well, this is stupid. I survived for months traveling through some of the toughest mountain ranges on the continent, and found my way through deep forests, but I can't even navigate some stupid city streets…" Ross muttered to himself as he passed a candle-maker's shop for the tenth time. "Geez, even I'm not absent-minded enough to forget to place directions on a letter when I want the recipient to go to a certain destination. But Dad is getting older, so maybe it just slipped his-Whoah!" Ross collided with a purple-haired woman in front of him, and fell backwards onto the pavement. "Owww…." he moaned, as he rubbed his forehead, the other person copying his actions. "Sorry about that, miss." Ross sheepishly said, and held out a hand to help the lady up. The woman, obviously disgruntled, sprang up and immediately stormed off, muttering "How dare he….prodigies don't deserve this kind of treatment…."

"Man, what's her problem…" Ross grumbled, as he walked off in the opposite direction of the woman, only to run into a lamppost. "OW! Not again!" he exclaimed, looking up and glaring at the object with enough intensity to make the lamp flicker a little. It was then that he noticed the sign on the side of the pole, marked with the words "Renais Castle", and an arrow pointing straight ahead. Ross slowly looked down until he stared straight ahead, at the castle gates, a few intersections ahead. "Just how did I miss that?" Ross mused, as he walked towards the gates, and stopped when several guards emerged from a nearby building and moved in front of him.

"Halt! What is your purpose here?" queried one of the soldiers. "Um, I'm Ross, and I'm here to visit my dad, Garcia. I have a letter with his invitation on it." Ross stated, presenting the letter to the guard. The soldier's face brightened. "Oh, you're the son of Garcia, aren't you? Yeah, you served in the War of the Stones and were one of the people to face against the Demon King! Allright, go through!" The soldiers immediately stepped to the side, allowing Ross to pass through into the lush, verdant courtyard of the castle. Ross took no notice of the greenery though, instead storming through the courtyard, intent on getting inside, and talking to his dad about not forgetting to list directions.

"Son!" Garcia exclaimed as Ross entered the hall of the castle. He sprang out of the leather armchair he was sitting in and walked up to Ross. "So, how did your trip work out?" he asked him, motioning for him to take a seat in another armchair next to him. Ross sighed "Well, I got to travel to the other mountain villages…but it was getting kind of boring traveling by myself." Garcia nodded, "Well, if you want, you can actually stay here for a while. There isn't that much going on in the kingdom that requires the attention of the military, so you can just help me with training the recruits." Ross grinned, but then frowned and slumped into his chair. Garcia raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?" He moaned, and said "To tell the truth, I don't know if I would be able to handle living in a city for a long time. The people here are a lot ruder and pushier then back home." Garcia nodded. "Yes, but sometimes, they're just so busy that they don't really pay attention to others around them. Once you get to know them, they're sometimes a lot nicer then expected."

Lute scowled as she made her way through the halls of the castle. The day had been nothing but bad luck for the self-proclaimed "Prodigy". First, she had spilled her entire vial of Bael venom, which she was going to use to create a more effective antidote that wouldn't be used up as fast to heal poisoning. Then, when she went out to pick up more from the nearest alchemical supplies store, she ran into some brutish and crude person who had collided with her and knocked her down. When she finally reached the store, it was out of Bael venom, and the store clerk told her that it would be up to two weeks to order a new supply. And finally, when she arrived back at the castle in a bad mood, a soldier had been standing in front of her room, with a letter from General Seth asking her to report to his room to discuss the "accidental" explosion from her lab that created a hole in the castle's west wall. "Has he no respect for someone like me? I could be doing something much more beneficial to civilization right now then explaining an accident…" she muttered, as she emerged in the entrance hall of the castle. She was halfway across when she noticed someone sitting in an armchair near the entrance, talking to Sir Garcia. "Those clothes…that body structure…IT'S YOU!" she screeched, and dove at her "assailant". "This is for knocking me ove-Ross?" Ross blinked. "Lute?"


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Whoah, a review…..to tell the truth, I didn't really expect a review for the first chapter, seeing as how Ross x Lute supporters are pretty rare. Thanks, MeowSap! As for the "not many mistakes" comment, what mistakes were they?

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones. I don't own the copyrights, and I don't own the characters. The only thing I own is a game cartridge, and this fanfic, which if you think about it, is kinda the property of and my friend, who helps me revise my chapters.

Uh, right….Chapter 2 coming up!

**Warriors And Prodigies**

As soon as Lute realized who she was diving at, she immediately tried to stop in midair. Unfortunately for her, the properties of motion were still in effect, so she ended up crashing into Ross anyways. "Oof!" she exclaimed, as her body crashed into Ross's, knocking him off the armchair and onto the floor. Garcia looked on with amusement as the two ended up on the floor, with Lute lying on top of Ross, putting the berserker in a rather awkward position. For a few seconds, the hall was dead silent, until Ross hesitantly said "Uh…could you please get off me?" Lute snapped out of the daze she was in from colliding with the young man, blushed, and rolled off his body quickly. Ross sat up, wincing. "Jeez, Lute, what was that for?" Lute quickly regained her normal, haughty attitude. "THAT was for running into me on the street and knocking me down!" "Well, I apologized and tried to help you up, but you just knocked my hand away and stormed off!". She frowned "You should have been paying attention to where you were walking, you lummox!" Garcia quickly got up from his armchair and clamped a hand down on both of their mouths. "Allright, a harmless accident like this shouldn't merit an argument this bad. And besides, don't you have a meeting with General Seth to get to, Lute?", he said, as he simultaneously pushed Ross down into his armchair again, and nudged Lute in the direction of the Silver Knight's office. Lute scoffed, spun around, and quickly strode off.

Once Lute was out of sight, Garcia turned back to his son, who was sitting in his chair, with an annoyed expression on his face. "Man," he exclaimed, "Lute's just as weird and eccentric as she was during the war!" Garcia smiled. "Oh? And how?". Ross frowned. "Well, this one time during the war, I was talking to her during a battle, and I thought I would be nice to her, and stick next to her to protect her from attacks, and she says that it would be more likely that she would protect me, and that she would be prepared for disappointment!" Garcia's smile grew wider. "So, why exactly did you decide to protect her?" he said, a gleam appearing in his eyes. "Well, um, I…well, she just kinda reminded me of mom, because she and Lute both used anima magic!" he stammered, his face turning red. His father nodded. "Yeah, she could. We made quite the unlikely couple, the fearless, strong fighter and his wife, the elegant, peaceful mage." Ross's eyes fell. "You know, I still miss her…I guess when I saw Lute, she reminded me so much of mom, that I felt an urge to protect her, to keep her from dying an untimely death, like she did…" The hall was quiet for a few minutes, both men caught up in the memories of a past long gone by. Ross finally decided to break the silence. "Hey, Dad, why don't you show me the new troops you're leading?" Garcia immediately brightened. "Ah, these troops aren't as disciplined as they were back in the old days. A lot rowdier now, but sure, I'll show you to them." Ross grinned "Maybe we can even put on a little fighting demonstration for them!" "Are you challenging me, you little upstart?" "You got it, old man!"

The Paladin general had acted just as Lute expected. First, he rambled on and on about how castle walls cost a large amount of money to fix, and then about how the recruits were so shocked that they were sent into a stampede, believing that the castle was under attack, and finally ended with the predictable sentence of "I trust you'll never do this again?" Lute had dully responded "Yes, sir.", and left the office. She was now wandering through the castle hallways, without a destination in mind. Ever since the War, Lute had been spending a greater amount of time in the "outside world" then in her own room with her magic books. She did admit that it was nice to get up and take in the fresh air and warm sunlight, though. She finally came to a stop in front of a large bay window overlooking the courtyard, where it looked as though two men were fighting in front of a large crowd. Interested, Lute got closer to the window, and watched as the two men rushed each other, their axes colliding together. Judging from the black hair and beard, the one wielding the double sided axe must be Sir Garcia, but the features of the other one with the large battle axe she couldn't make out at this distance. Whoever he was, she thought, he was pretty good, judging by how he was slowly forcing Garcia backwards towards the castle wall. But not good enough, as Garcia ducked under an axe swing, and came up, using the handle of his axe to trip the young man, and then stepping over his body to point the axe at his throat.

Ross winced. "Owww….you didn't have to go so hard on me, Dad…". "You were the one who was so eager to fight me though, Ross." Garcia said jokingly, helping Ross to his feet. "Yeah, I won't be so eager to make that mistake again." he said. The journeymen who were watching the father-son duel groaned in disappointment. "But you were great! Not that many people have lasted against our teacher for that long!" one journeyman shouted. "Yeah, that fight was great!" Ross smiled, "Well, it was a pretty good fight…" "Hey, is it true you're planning to stay at the castle? Can you give us some tips?" Garcia chuckled. "Well Ross, you wouldn't want to let down the trainees, would you?" Ross rolled his eyes mockingly. "All right, I'll stay for a while. After all, it's not as if I have that much to do right now." The journeymen cheered, and immediately swarmed Ross, asking him to show off his techniques. Garcia laughed as they dragged his son towards the barracks, Ross shouting at them to let him go all the way.

Author's Note: Well, that's the second chapter of Warriors and Prodigies. I know that this is a really short chapter, but schoolwork's keeping me bogged down. I swear I'll type more next time! ; Until then, see you!


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